Diary & Notes ~ Air Cell Detatched SHIPPED Chicken Eggs for incubation and hatching

[gimmie birdies]

it just looks large since my hand is covering most of egg

 

[gimmie birdies]

day 18 I like this egg. if it seems like more than a day 18 it is a small egg- so it may be more advanced.

 

[dolfi]

9 on day 18 keeping incubator closed not locking down- 7 look fine- one doesn't have real strong veins near air cel and one had a clear tip yesterday. not going to peek at them anymore. just keeping bator closed.

tomorrow is lock down for me. It does seems like a long time.

 

[gimmie birdies]

yeah,yeah for eggies!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

i am having a rant after wandering into a thread of people throwing opinions like talk radio hosts - here goes:


I have decided, in my humble opinion, bad hatch rates come from 2 things. less than ideal eggs or less than ideal understanding of the process.

Doing a meta-analysis of hundreds of people on this site's hatches - including my own - I have made the following observations:

Get good eggs. Practice hatching on eggs from your hens or someone nearby. Know that they are fresh, unshaken and from robust chickens you have seen with your own eyes.

Unless you absolutely positively cannot live a day longer without a breed of chicken that is not available locally - dont buy shipped eggs, If you do, dont get all analytic about what you did right or wrong by hatching them without a baseline. Instead, hatch some control group eggs. Once you have established a good hatch rate with a local source, hatch the local eggs along side those precious ones. If you get a good hatch from the control group and a poor one from the ebay eggs then guess what? Its the eggs. Now if both batches are poor, its your technique.

Make a plan and stick to it. If you are going dry incubation then do it. If you are following the instructions of the incubator, do it. Make notes. Learn about your eggs development. I numbered all my first eggs and weighed them on day 0, 7, 1i0 and 18. I knew those eggs when they hatched. 18 went into lock down, 17 came out alive.

Get a strong LED flashlight - forget the incandescent plug in candler you bought from amazon. Look at them on day 7-10, 14 and 18. Learn what they should look like.


Wash your dirty little hands with soap an water for 2 minutes before you handle an egg. We set incubators at 99.5F - the same temp hospital labs use to see if you have bacteria in your wound blood or pee. They leave the specimen in for 3 days to see if it grows bugs. Our poor eggs are in 21 days - enough to create a biological weapon.

I also believe the term lockdown is like old days when the husband was in the way during birthing and told to go boil lots of water. Its invented to stop interfering - including the rolling of eggs. If you need to get a chick out of the bator to intervene or its been a staggered hatch, then get it out. There is not a magical force that suddenly shrink wraps an egg. We are making chickens - not soufles. Shrink wrapping is something that happens over time with low humidity in a pipped egg.

Finally, get advice from people with more than opinions. Use the resources on this site that are brilliant. Sally Sunshine and Sumi on https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/704328/diary-notes-air-cell-detatched-shipped-eggs are amazing. Sally has stayed up all night helping people assist their one surviving chick out of the egg. On that thread and many others, there are heroes of BYC. Get to know them. Get to know who you can ask for advice, get to know your incubator, get to know your eggs and finally get to know when to mess with them and when to leave them alone.

Good luck

BTW Sally - you really are an amazing woman. May God bless you for all your generosity here.

While I was searching for Chick_In_The_Burbs's wire chick cage she used in the bator I ran into this again! Any changes to your statements after time ozexpat?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Ozexpat and anyone else that may know!! I think we discussed this at some point.... see below paste..... Are these infrared thermometers the same as the kiddos ear thermometer things? This may in fact help when trying to go through dark or colored eggs in which its hard to see inside... ALSO wondering how much more heat difference there would be at say DAY 18 of a live vs dead embryo??? Thanks for your help... I have not investigated much with the newly departed

other than ripping them open.....


Checking eggshell temperature
The only tool needed to do this is an infra-red thermometer, such as the Braun ThermoScan 4520. The egg shell temperature is an accurate guide for the temperature of the embryo itself.
Remember!
Eggshell temperatures must be taken at the equator of the egg (image 1), because over the aircell the reading will register lower than the true embryo temperature. Use eggs with live embryos as an infertile egg will not be producing heat.
http://www.wattagnet.com/16722.html

 

[cochins1088]

Quote:
To answer your question, no, chicks can't be sexed like ducklings.

Ducklings and goslings are easy to vent sex. The male organ sticks out when it's exposed.

Chicks are much more difficult and I haven't been able to figure it out...

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:
To answer your question, no, chicks can't be sexed like ducklings.

Ducklings and goslings are easy to vent sex. The male organ sticks out when it's exposed.

Chicks are much more difficult and I haven't been able to figure it out...
the video I watch had suggested a male "bump" lol but the camera didnt focus well on the ..... ummm bump of a newly hatched chick lol

 

[Sally Sunshine]

OMG I cant function this gutt bug is killing me! I keep having to sit back down, what in the world did I pick up now!! And I havent really left the house!

 

[ozexpat]

While I was searching for Chick_In_The_Burbs's wire chick cage she used in the bator I ran into this again! Any changes to your statements after time ozexpat?

I pretty much stand by it save a couple of clarifications.


When I state get a chick out of lock down - I meant it - but dont go in there continuously. If I have to. I will go in but I get a wet cloth and wipe all the inside of the bator to boost humidity.